The still anonymous 35-year-old man who received a baboon's liver in June is not doing well. The problem is infection, not rejection. Dye injected into his bile ducts to make them show up on X rays apparently caused the infection, and the patient's immune system, weakened by antirejection drugs, could not easily fight it. High doses of antibiotics reduced the resulting fever. But when tests showed the liver was excreting too little bile, the man's condition was downgraded to critical. A similar transplant on another patient was postponed until doctors resolve the situation.
...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
